Randy "Macho Man" Savage, one of the most talented, athletic and memorable professional wrestlers in the modern history of the industry, died Friday morning as a result of injuries sustained in a single vehicle accident near Tampa, Fla. after likely sustaining a heart attack while driving according to reports attributed to his brother Lanny "The Genius" Poffo.
Mainstream media was all over the story after it broke on TMZ.com and a colleague of mine from my day job was actually the one who informed me of the tragedy after hearing it about it from his daughter on one of the social media networks. While Savage died in the accident, his wife Barbara, the only passenger, was hospitalized with minor injuries and expected to recover.
With his buffed body, trademark sunglasses, majestic robe, flying elbow drop from the top turnbuckle and unique raspy-voiced promo delivery, Savage became one of the true icons of professional wrestling and parlayed that fame into even more widespread notoriety as the spokesperson for Slim Jims. He even had a role in a Spiderman movie-somewhat ironic as he wrestled under a mask as the Spider early in his grappling career.
Randy Poffo was a minor league baseball player in the St. Louis Cardinal farm system well before his stints as WWF and WCW world champion. He first made his mark as a regional wrestling star in his father Angelo's territorial promotion, before feuding with Jerry Lawler in Memphis and going to the big time afterward to become both one of Hulk Hogan's tag team partners, as well as one of his biggest adversaries.
Macho Man feuded with many of wrestling's biggest names during his career, even having a brief, but memorable, series of matches with the legendary Bruno Sammartino after the Italian strongman had become a color commentator and had confronted Savage for gloating about "injuring" Ricky Steamboat by coming off the top rope with a vicious shot to the throat with the ring bell.
The most famous match of Macho Man's career was probably his unsuccessful Intercontinental title defense against Ricky the Dragon Steamboat at the Pontiac Silverdome on the show headlined by Hogan and Andre that drew the infamous throng of a reported 93,000 plus fans in 1987 at WrestleMania . The Savage-Steambout bout included an incredible number of near falls and athletic maneuvers. It is generally regarded by purists as one of the finest exhibitions in WWE history and absolutely stole the show.
At his side for many of his biggest matches and a big reason for his popularity as both heel and babyface (depending on the storyline) was his valet, the lovely Elizabeth. She was his real life wife during much of the time they worked together and another victim of wrestling's proclivity for destroying its own way too young. She died of a prescription drug overdose a few years ago after they had divorced, but had managed to continue to work together in WCW.
Savage feuded with Ric Flair over the WWF belt and lost the title to the Nature Boy in Hershey in 1992. He headlined a card here at Shamokin High School, arriving late for his main event after getting lost, but doing a dramatic last second run-in in his street clothes to do battle in front of a large contingent of wrestling fans there primarily to see the charismatic Macho Man.
Tweeted tributes from wrestling stars began streaming in on a variety of wrestling websites shortly after news broke of his death. Statements from both WWE and TNA, where Savage worked briefly in 2004, praised the achievements of the one and only Macho Man. Randy Poffo was 58 at the time of his death.
Sting retained the TNA title over RVD last Sunday at the Sacrifice pay-per-view, and Karen Angle tapped out to Chyna in their tag bout with Chyna's appearance expected to be a one time thing. Tommy Dreamer defeated A.J. Styles. Terry Taylor has reportedly been let go by the company from his office position.
WWE offers Over the Limit on ppv this evening. We will have results next week.